In his book, The Clearwater Story: A History of the Clearwater National Forest, Ralph Space tells a story about the pioneer justice that went on in the early days.

Ranger Ed McKay came upon a man just as he shot the insulator off a Forest Service telephone line. McKay had apparently seen other incidents where this had happened and it put the line out of order. He informed the man that it was against the law.

The man replied that he had never really thought much about it.

At that point McKay gave him the choice of going to court he could give him 'a good trouncing'. The man chose to settle it right there. They squared away and went at it. What the ranger didn't know is the man was a prize fighter and he soon found he couldn't get at him because he danced around out of the way and repeatedly landed punches on McKay, though the ranger was a much larger man. He finally rushed the man as a way to get at him, but only found himself sitting on the ground looking at his adversary with fast closing eyes.

McKay told him he had won, got on his horse and rode away.

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